Green Fingers
by Raphaelfanguy4real
Summary: After living a few hours as a plant, Raph finds it difficult to get used to being a turtle again.


prologue

The last thing he remembered was chopping wood in the forest. Well, there was a fuzzy feeling of craving moss and sticks too, but he decided not to dwell on that. He gained consciousness slowly, first aware of the fact that he was laying down, then of the uncomfortable prickling in his back. He blinked awake.

"Oh man! He looks horrible!" Mikey exclaims, and raph narrows his eyes, whats going on?

"What are you talking about? He looks fine." April says, gently placing his red mask over his eyes.

"Oh, that's better." Mikey sighs, as Raph sits up. He looks around, he'd been laying on hay bales, hence the prickling. Donatello screws a jar shut and places it on the table, it's full of a gooey blue mess. Casey leans against the barn door, and Leo sits on another hay bale. Raph notices he has replaced his faded blue mask.

"What happened?" he moaned, rubbing his head.

"The creep turned you into a plant!" Mikey said, as if Raph knew what the heck he was talking about.

"Slow down Mikey." April said, "he doesn't know about the name you gave that thing." Raph struggled to remember, anything, from the last twelve hours.

"I was, chopping wood." he said, "what happened?"

"The 'creep;" Donnie said, spinning around in the chair with the jar, "is a mutant that sucks the mutagen out of you, like eating your life force, he got you, but I managed to pump the mutagen back into your system."

"Ook." Raph said, still slightly confused. When April looked at him softly.

"Leo didn't leave your side." she said, and Raph was thrown back in time, he was sitting beside the bathtub, his unconscious brother moaned softly in his sleep.

"Really?" he asked, disbelievingly, Leo got up and hobbled to him, using the crutch raph had made.

"That's what brothers are for." he said, and put a hand on raph's shoulder, raph grinned.

 **Not prologue anymore**

"Now that I have to get two of you back in shape," April said from where she was at the kitchen counter, "we'll be having three, very healthy, meals every day." she turned and placed the salad she'd been mixing on the table, Raph looked at it, it was strange, he wasn't hungry, especially for plants.

"That looks great April." Leo says, practically drooling over it. Raph remained silent as April divided it between the six people at the table, placing a heaping plate before raph. He stared down at it as his siblings and friends began to eat hungrily.

" _The creep turned you into a plant!"_ raph jerked backward, shoving the plate away.

"Not hungry." he muttered, and got up from the table, he saw Mikey lean over to inspect it.

"It's not like there's any worms raph, eat up!" he said, but raph was already leaving the kitchen, he stepped outside for a moment. As soon as the sun touched his skin, he felt better, and looked up at the blue sky.

"Are you ok?" Casey asked, coming out onto the porch, raph shrugged, closing his eyes as he let the sun warm him. "You kinda freaked April out, and she's a great cook if you let her feed you." Raph sighed, and opened his eyes, turning to Casey.

"What genius decided to eat salad for lunch?" he growled, "no one has any common sense around here!" then, without waiting for an answer, he jumped over the railing and took off to the woods to explore.

April tried not to cry, why hadn't raph wanted her salad? It didn't look that bad, did it? Casey returned a few moments later, without their red masked friend.

"Is he ok?" Leo asked anxiously, Casey shrugged.

"I think he just didn't want salad…" he said, "but he should be ok." April sighed.

"I just feel like it's my fault raph got mad." she sighed, placing her elbows on the table and resting her head in her hands.

He's not mad." Mikey said, coming into the room with a bowl of popcorn, "he's just...uh, Donnie, what's that one word?"

"Recovering?" Donnie asked, not even looking up from his computer.

"Yeah!" Mikey said, "I mean, he did just like, get all his mutagen sucked out, then pumped back in in the course of twenty four hours, he's gonna have to get his life back in order." April looked up.

"That actually makes sense Mikey." she said, "wow."

"Thanks." Mikey said, "hey!" Leo rolled his eyes.

"So, where is he now?" he asked Casey.

"He ran off into the forest." Casey said casually, and all of them gasped, staring at him.

"Seriously?" Leo asked "you didn't think to tell us that?"

"It's not like he's never coming back." Casey said, "sheesh."

Raph walked along the faint deer path and sighed, for some reason, he felt more at home out here, than he ever had in the farmhouse. He scowled, had being a plant for a few hours permanently affected him? Raph glanced at the sky, holy toledo! It was getting dark already! He spun around and sprinted back towards the clearing, he really didn't want to get caught out here after dark, again.

"Raph!" he heard someone shout, "where on earth are ya?" He slowed to a walk and emerged from the trees.

"Calm down Mikey." he said, "I'm right there." Mikey greeted him with a bear hug.

"I was worried!" he exclaimed, and raph realized how horrible it must have been for Mikey to watch him turn into a plant.

"I'm not going anywhere." he assured his little brother. And they headed inside, "where's everyone else?"

"Oh yeah." Mikey said, "guys! Found him!" the others came from around the house.

"You idiot." Leo growled, hobbling along on his crutch, "why did you run off?" Raph glared at him.

"I was scouting the area, we should get to know the nearby woods." he said, in a reasonable voice. Leo looked at him for a moment.

"Ok." he said, "let's get some sleep, I want to start training again tomorrow." raph shrugged.

"Fine." he said casually, "see you tomorrow." leaving them to stare at his back, he walked up the stairs to his room. After he closed the door, raph rubbed his eyes, ugh, even after only a few moments inside the house, he was feeling woozy. He was pretty sure he was just having side effects from being a plant, but it was disorienting. Raph glanced at his window, it wouldn't hurt to sit on the roof for a few moments. He slid his window open silently, and climbed out.

Mikey walked up after raph, but the door had already closed, so he went into his room, the one across the hall, and closed that one too. But then he heard a window slide open, was raph running away? Mikey glanced around, they were on the top floor, which probably meant raph was going onto the roof. He slid his own window open and climbed out. He could hear raph angrily muttering to himself.

"Dumb, gah, wish it was, what should I…"

"Raph?" he asked, raph spun around, surprise and, fear? Clouding his gaze. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine!" raph said, and mikey squinted, were his eyes wet?

"Were you running away?" he asked quietly, raph shook his head.

"Just, just wanted to sit outside for a bit." he said, "sorry to worry you." Mikey walked over to his older brother.

"Casey said you said you didn't want to eat what April made, is there anything you do want?" he was worried his brother would starve to death.

"Not hungry." raph said, leaning against the roof, and staring at the sky.

"Ook." mikey said, "when are you going to come in?"

"Later." Raph said, closing his eyes, and mikey felt super uncomfortable.

"I'll go then." he said, "good night."

"Yup." raph said, "see you." Mikey climbed back into his room and got in his bed, raph would be ok, he was the toughest of all of them. With this comforting thought, Mikey drifted off to sleep.

Raph woke up when he felt the warm sunlight on his skin, he blinked. Had he fallen asleep on the roof? Looked like it.

"Raph?" Mikey was knocking on the door inside the window, raph jumped through and walked over, he opened it.

"Hi Mikey." he said, "sleep well?" Mikey shrugged. And they walked down to breakfast together, raph again realized that he wasn't hungry. And when he saw what April had made, he groaned inwardly, not to rain on her parade or anything, but he had no wish to eat, whatever that was.

"So, what's the sludge?" he asked, "remnants of the creep?" April glared at him.

"It's a healthy breakfast smoothie." she says, "made from spinach, strawberries, and avocados."

" _The creep turned you into a plant!"_

"Cool!" Mikey exclaimed, sitting down, "load me up!"

"Not hungry." raph said, and spun around out of the kitchen.

"Raph!" Leo called, "what is wrong with you?" raph ignored him and stalked out angrily. He stood and watched the sunrise, feeling better, he groaned. Did he like, have photosynthetica? Or whatever it was that plants had? Donnie came up next to him.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly, Raph shrugged.

"Fine." he said, "it doesn't matter. Leo's in need of attention more than me."

"That's not exactly true." Donnie argued, and raph looked at him. "We need you to be at the top of your game too, and you need to eat." raph sighed.

"I'm, just not hungry." he said, and Donnie seemed to realize what he meant.

"Oh." he said, "like, really? No appetite?"

"Yup." raph said, "good job Donnie." Donnie looked at him curiously.

"Raph." he hesitated, "are you ok?" Raph turned to look at him.

"What the shell is that supposed to mean?" he asked, "of course I am!" Donnie fixed him with a stare.

"You, Raphael." he said, "are very bad at keeping secrets." Raph scowled.

"I'm, not, keeping secrets." he said awkwardly, Donnie raised an eyebrow. Raph felt his instinctive defenses going up. "Look, I can handle it." he said,

"So there is something." Donnie said triumphantly, Raph growled, putting his head in his hands,

"Gah! Now I'm confused!" he said, and felt tears run out of his eyes, he wiped them away quickly and took a breath. "Do you really want me to bug you with this?"

"Yes raph, I do." Donnie said, "i know you would never refuse april's food like that, you're too nice." raph snorted.

"Yeah, I'm nice."

"You know what I mean." Donnie said, "you're nice to her."

"Ok."

"So, why won't you eat?" Donnie asked, "she's cooking specifically healthy food for you raph." raph frowned, thinking of an analogy.

"Don," he said, "if you got the chance to be human, and live in the surface, but you remembered all this," he gestured around them, "but one of the first meals placed before you is turtle soup, how would you react?" Donnie looked confused for a moment, and then his eyes widened,

"Oh raph…" he murmured, "I'm sorry, we didn't realize…" raph held up a hand.

"It's ok, Like i said, I can handle it." he stepped off the porch and into the light, raph closed his eyes. "I can figure it out." Donnie looked at him for a moment,and then turned in and walked to the kitchen. Raph could hear him talking.

"We made a huge mistake." he said, and raph heard confused noises coming from his brothers. "April, raph was a plant." silence, and then a gasp.

April stared at Donnie, who was looking dejectedly at the floor. "Oh no." she said, "raph, Donnie I'm sorry, is he ok?" Donnie shrugged.

"He wants to handle it himself." he murmured April shook her head and marched out to the porch, only to be met by a strange sight. Raph was standing in the grass, his eyes closed and his head tilted back.

"Raph!" she said, he opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Hi april." he said, April crossed the yard to him.

"Are you ok?" she asked, "I'm sorry i didn't think…"

"It's fine." Raph told her, "you didn't know."

"Well we know now." April said, firmly taking his arm, "and you are going to come inside so we can figure it out together." Raph tried to pull away halfheartedly, but then slumped his shoulders. April smiled softly at him. "Come on raph." she said. "Let us help you."

Raph followed April into the kitchen where his brothers and Casey were waiting. Leo looked at him, and raph noticed he still didn't look very well. He cursed himself for being a wimp, and realized April's hand was still on his arm. He pulled it away and ignored Donnie's glance.

"What happened raph?" leo asked, and raph took a breath.

"I don't know how much Don told you," he said, "but he knows most of it, I haven't had an appetite since i woke up, and whenever i see food made of plants…." his voice trailed off, "I guess it's like how we'd react to turtle soup." Leo nodded.

"That makes sense." he said, "we should have seen that."

"Yeah," mikey said, "like master splinter always said, ' _if you are blind, you cannot see'_ wait, that's not it,"

"Anyway," Raph interrupted, rolling his eyes, "i'm, sure it's temporary, there's really no need to worry." april raised her eyebrows.

"So, why did you sleep on the roof?" raph was surprised.

"Why does there have to be a psychic here?" he wondered aloud, "ok, so there might be a few other side effects, but I'm fine. Really." Donnie walked over to him.

"You slept on the roof?" he asked, "why on earth would you do that? It's like, march." raph hissed annoyingly at April but sighed.

"Ok, some of the side effects may make me feel like being inside is suffocating, but I feel better once I step outside." Raph explained "I can,"

"Do not say you can figure it out yourself." Leo interrupts, "please, spare us." Raph glared at him.

"Ok fearless," raph growled, "how are you going to help?"

"I have an idea!" Mikey proclaimed, raph frowned, Mikey's ideas were never good.

"Yeah, no thank you." he said, "I kind of want to live to see seventeen thanks." but mikey kept talking like he wasn't there.

"Maybe you got used to using photography while you were a plant." he said, Donnie face-palmed. "If you'd eat human food it might help."

"Mikey," Donnie said, "that's GENIUS!"

"I know." Mikey said, "wait what?" Raph raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, Mikey thinks, _eating_ will heal me, tell me that doesn't sound insane."

"Oh it sounds insane alright." Donnie said, "but so did a lot of genius things, like the guy who discovered the platypus. Everyone thought it was fake."

"I don't see how that's relevant." Leo said, "but ok then." Raph sighed.

"Fine, I'll eat food." he groaned, "but don't blame me when it helps zilch." Mikey jumped up and grabbed an old slice of pizza, he tossed it to raph. Raph held it up and wrinkled his nose, but he took a bite. Instantly his eyes grew as big as saucers and he shoved the whole thing in his mouth, two day's of not eating was catching up to him, and he was famished.

"Well then." Leo said, after raph had eaten the rest of Mikey's entire pizza, "problem solved?"

"Looks like it." April said, "feel better raph?" raph glanced at Mikey.

"Ok, looks like you were right." he said grudgingly, "thanks Mikey."

"No problemo bro." Mikey said, "what are brothers for?"

The end


End file.
